SocraticGadfly: What's the future of the Boy Scouts?

July 07, 2021

What's the future of the Boy Scouts?

Maybe about the same as the future of the Catholic Church, only with a faster death spiral?

The Boy Scouts of America, headquartered in Irving, have settled a massive sexual abuse lawsuit. The details about how pervasive this is have been one factor (but by no means the only one) in gutting the agency, where participation is only 40 percent of its membership compared to just two years ago. (Girl Scouts is down to just 70 percent, and both organizations were dropping before this; COVID accelerated the decline.)

For Boy Scouts, the decline probably isn't over. It's likely that assets like summer camp lands will have to be sold as part of raising money for lawsuit payouts; in turn, that's likely to further undercut urban and larger suburban Scouting interest. Remaining camps will likely be more crowded, and BSA state and national will charge more for camp attendance to recoup some of their losses. That, in turn, will reduce yet more the lower-income urban and suburban interest.

And, that's as the immigrant population increases.

Hat tip D Mag on both links.

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